


The way of Nature

by Siff



Series: Tales from the Wall [1]
Category: King Arthur (2004)
Genre: Harm to Animals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-08
Updated: 2013-05-08
Packaged: 2017-12-10 20:11:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/789690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Siff/pseuds/Siff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tristan has to teach a young girl about the way of nature</p>
            </blockquote>





	The way of Nature

It was a very quiet evening, one of the rare ones.

No Roman soldiers was drinking or yelling, no commoner was picking a fight over a barmaid and no knights around to laugh and gamble. He was alone in the tavern, all alone… and Tristan loved it.

He sat by their usual table, slowly sipping his drink. The sweet taste of the mead rolled over his tongue, making him sigh. Ale was for getting drunk or brawl. Mead was for silent, star filled nights alone.

And he was sure he had earned it. 

After almost a month on the road, chasing down some Woad-pack terrorizing a Roman convoy, (not that he minded, the Woads had been creative, leaving the Romans shaking and paranoid) he was entitled to a good drink and some solitude. Romans were annoying. When he wasn´t tracking down the Woads, he was constantly being pestered by nagging women and men who had never held anything but a pen in their hands. 

But despite all their nagging and pleads for his protection, he had survived (and more importantly, so had they)  and brought them safely to the coast where a ship had waited for them, taking them of his hands and back to that cursed city of Rome.

He had returned to the Wall with the report of a mission complete, only to find Arthur and the other knights gone. No message was left for him but Jols had been kind enough to inform him, problems up north apparently. 

Why the Roman soldiers were not currently occupying the tables around him was still a mystery, and one he didn´t care to find out. He just wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. 

Tristan rested his hands on the table, listening to the fire cracking in the many torches around him. Vanora was rumbling somewhere in the bar, probably making everything ready before the next evenings rush. 

Oh, it was indeed a wonderful evening. Until he heard someone yell his name.

With a groan he turned in his seat, facing the main road that ran through the fort, and saw one of Bors bastards run towards him. It was one of the girls, an older one judging by her height. She ran towards him, calling his name as her wild, red hair followed her like a cape. She waved her arms at him, clearly not aware of the fact that she had already caught his attention. 

She reached his table, almost falling over her own small feet as she skidded to a halt. He caught her around the middle, surprised as always over her small body and her light weight. What was Vanora feeding her children?

“Easy, lass.” he said, setting the girl down on her feet. She looked up at him and Tristan finally recognized her as Three - or Young Vanora - as the knights called her. The girl was indeed a small version of her mother, from her fiery hair to her even more fiery temper. She even had Vanoras eyes, kind and loving but still able to give you a mean glare when needed.

She was also the only child who wasn´t afraid of him. 

“Tristan, you have to come. Now, now, _now_ ” the girl said and tugged at his sleeve.

“And why is that?” he asked slightly amused as he didn´t move an inch, even when the little girl dug her feet into the soil and pulled with all her might. 

“It’s your bird” Three said and tugged furiously at his sleeve “it’s being bad, very, very bad”

Tristan frowned. His hawk was maybe not the most trained bird in the land (it was not a pet, it was his partner) but it always behaved. “What do you mean ‘bad’?”

“I´ll show you, come on”

He stood up, almost tumbling the girl over since he didn´t gave her time to let go of his sleeve. She quickly gathered her footing and began to show him the way. She was jumping on her toes, impatiently urging him to walk faster. He followed her to the stables. The soft noise of the horses talking to each other reached his ears. 

Three ran past the gate to the stable and rounded the corner, disappearing; he followed her into the darkness.

“There” she whispered. Had it not been for his eyes, ever as sharp in the dark as in the light, he would have missed what she pointed at.

On the ground, covered in dust and with a bloody beak, was his hawk. Beneath its feet was a dove. A big fat dove. The bird was struggling against the talons buried into its back, keeping it firmly in place as the hawk picked it for both feathers and chunks of meat.

“Make it stop, make it stop” Three begged and tugged at his sleeve once more.

“No”

“But its hurting it. See? It’s still alive. Make it stop, please!” 

Tristan looked down at the girl, feeling deep affection but also sadness for the girl. Her heart was in the right place for a daughter of a killer, but he still wished she didn´t have to learn things like this. 

The dove suddenly broke free of the talons, rolling to its legs before hobbling away in an attempt of escape. One of its wings was clearly broken, and it looked more plucked than a dinner-hen. 

His hawk didn´t make a sound, just basked its wings and with a single jump once again had the dove under its mercy. 

“Tristan!” the girl begged, looking up at him with big, tearful eyes.

Tristan kneeled down into the dirt so his eyes were somewhat at her level. He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her right in the eyes. 

“We can´t help the bird. The hawk caught it fairly and it is now the hawks to kill and eat” he talked slowly, wanting to be sure the girl understood.

“But its suffering” she whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek.

“Like many other doves has before and will after this. We can´t walk around making sure every animal dies a painless death. That is not the nature’s way.” He glanced at the hawk, just in time to see the head disappear into a hole and come back up with a small piece of meat in its beak. The dove was still struggling. 

Three was shaking with tears now “Can´t we do anything?”

He looked back at her, considering his answer “We could” he said “I could wring its neck and leave it for the hawk, but I won´t. It would be stealing the prey and I can´t do that. The hawk won’t forgive me for it. It’s a proud beast”

Three´s lips quivered before she lowered her head, wiping her tears away with her arm.

“I don´t like it” she said.

“I know” said Tristan and gently grabbed the girl under her arms, lifting her up “but that’s just how things are” he gently pressed her against him and she instantly wrapped her arms around his neck. He smiled as she buried her face into his neck, sniffling softly. 

“I don´t think I like your hawk any more” she whispered somewhere near his ear. Tristan stomach clenched at her words. She was the only child who didn´t fear him. All the others ran whenever they saw him, having heard from their parents all the rumors that circled around him, but not this girl. 

Her words made him swallow uncomfortably.

Three had always liked him and his hawk, and if a dying dove was enough to kill her love for the bird, then he prayed to whatever God there was that she would never she him take a life.

No fight or good kill was worth loosing something like this.

“It’s fine, lass” he whispered and tightened his arms around the small child “It’s all fine”

He turned around leaving his hawk to its dying meal and walk back to the torch-lit tavern with the girl in his arms. 

**Author's Note:**

> Woohoo, first story posted here^^ Hope there will be more. Anyway, this is inspired by something that happend like...an hour ago. I saw a hawk eat a living dove right outside our kitchen...it something new. It turned into this story.  
> Wanted it just to be about how animals live but it somehow also turned into Tristan fearing loosing something important.  
> Anyway, thank you for reading^^


End file.
